Workplace

If you’re unhappy with changes to your job, getting to work may feel like an insurmountable task. A new Canadian survey warns that 46 per cent of employees have taken time off work or noticed their colleagues take time away to tend to their mental health following workplace changes, specifically a change in job roles.

When changes sweep the workplace, negative implications for employees often follow, according to a new survey by Morneau Shepell, a human resources consulting company. Continue reading →

This is part of a series looking at microskills – changes that employees can make to help improve their health and life at work and at home, and employers can make to improve the workplace. The Globe and Mail and Morneau Shepell have created the Employee Recommended Workplace Award to honour companies that put the health and well-being of their employees first. Register your company now at www.employeerecommended.com.

How many of your employees have a mental health challenge?

A common response is, “That’s not my business, so how would I know?” This is partially correct. It’s true that it’s not your role to pry, ask invasive personal health questions or diagnose staff. Continue reading →

RBC Insurance and Best Doctors Canada transforming how group benefit clients suffering from mental illnesses are treated to recover more quickly

TORONTO, Oct. 5, 2016 /CNW/ – More Canadians are putting their lives on hold every day as they struggle to deal with mental illnesses that leave them unable to work. That inability to work leads to emotional and financial stress compounded by medical appointments and long periods of recovery. According to the Centre for Addiction and Mental Health (CAMH), one in five Canadians experience a mental health issue in any given year, making it a leading cause of disability in Canada. In fact, almost 30 per cent of all group disability claims at RBC Insurance are related to mental health. Continue reading →

For many Canadians struggling with mental-health issues, therapy isn’t an option. Private help is expensive and the psychologists and social workers in the public systems are difficult to access. Doctors report having too few options for patients who need therapy but don’t have the money or employee insurance to pay for it. And even those with workplace benefits often don’t get enough to cover more than a handful of appointments. Continue reading →

Mental health is costing the Canadian economy billions of dollars, according to a report by the Conference Board of Canada.

The board found that depression cost $32.3 billion in lost gross domestic product. Anxiety cost $17.3 billion a year.

The research concluded that almost one-quarter of Canadians are unable to work due to their symptoms. And, in some cases, depression and anxiety prevents people from entering the workforce altogether. Continue reading →

Canadians, communities and workplaces benefit when everyone can participate equally in everyday life. There has been much progress in making our society more inclusive, but we can do better.

This is why the Government of Canada is committed to developing new planned accessibility legislation to promote equality of opportunity and increase the inclusion and participation of Canadians who have disabilities or functional limitations. Continue reading →

A new report from the Conference Board of Canada finds that depression and anxiety cost the Canadian workforce an estimated $50 billion a year in lost productivity, a result which researchers see as a wake-up call to employers who need to become more proactive in dealing with their employees’ mental health.

“A large proportion of working Canadians have unmet mental health care needs that prevent them from performing to their utmost, and our report shows this has serious consequences for the Canadian economy,” says Louis Thériault of the Conference Board of Canada, a not-for-profit economic think tank. “Improving treatment of mental illness among working Canadians would offer significant benefits for individuals, businesses, society and the economy.” Continue reading →

Everyone dreads going into work sometimes. But for those with a mental health disorder, that feeling is more than just a run-of-the-mill case of “the Mondays.”

Mental illness affects nearly one in five American adults in a given year. It brings about physical and emotional symptoms, none of which just disappear as soon as an individual steps through that office front door. Continue reading →